1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of animal waste disposal. In particular, the present invention is directed towards an enclosed box structure which contains several features permitting the storage and shipment of litter within the box until needed, a removable cover which will allow the box to be placed in service for a short period of time and then disposed of in its entirety, to be replaced by another unit of the present invention.
2. Description of Related Technology
Many pet owners desire to keep their pet confined within their homes. Such confinement prevents the pet from disposing of its body waste in a natural manner out of doors. The solution to this problem is either to take the pet outside at occasional intervals, or to provide some mechanism within the house for disposing of animal waste. The latter option becomes a necessity if the pet is to be left unattended for long periods of time.
Some pets, particularly cats, can be trained to use a litter box with little or no difficulty. A typical litter box generally consists of a rectangular container, approximately one foot wide, two feet long, and four or five inches high. Placed within the box is a layer of sand or other absorbent material, typically in a layer two to three inches deep, so that the pet is able to freely enter the box, and dispose of and covers its body waste.
The use of litter boxes has become very widespread, but such use still suffers from the drawback that the litter box must be cleaned approximately every week, a process that requires that the spent litter material be removed, the box cleaned, and new litter placed within the box. The cleaning process itself is time consuming, tends to distribute fine particles of dust in the air during the emptying and refilling processes, and requires the use of considerable care to avoid inadvertently spilling litter.
Many ingenious devices have been developed over the years in order to simplify the maintenance of the litter box. Most of these devices include trays, multiple layered litter box floors, or other mechanical devices in order to simplify the litter emptying and refilling process. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,314, issued to Edgar, discloses a disposable litter box. The box is constructed of corrugated paper and is formed into a six-sided box which is shipped containing a flexible bag containing litter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,190, issued to Rhodes, discloses a litter box containing a plastic garbage bag which may be removed periodically and replaced with another bag containing litter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,150, issued to Gershman, discloses a housing which is clamped to a litter tray which may be periodically removed. A removable drawing having a screen bottom is mounted within the housing, the particulate litter dropping through the screen, the litter being separated so as to fall into a litter tray for reuse.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,360, issued to Higgins, discloses a disposable litter box being formed substantially as a rectangular solid. A removable cover exposes the litter to use, the cover retaining the litter within the box during shipment.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,671, issued to Cheesman, discloses a disposable cat litter container having the animal litter prepackaged within the container. The container is formed from a single integrated piece of paperboard material with the exception of a separate cover for retaining the litter within the box. A major drawback to the prior art devices discussed is that the minimum dimensions of the box when in its storing and shipping configuration are still unacceptably large. Since the box must have some depth to provide adequate cover for animal waste material, the prior art boxes have a side wall that is typically four or five inches in height, the side wall defining the minimum dimension which the box can assume during shipping and storage.
All of these prior art devices suffer from the drawback that either the litter box maintenance process is still time consuming insofar as the parent litter box structure remains permanently in the house and must, therefore, be cleaned periodically with a disinfectant solution even though the litter itself may have been changed in a relatively simple and straightforward manner, or the box is not sufficiently elementary in design to permit rapid and predictable erection of the structure.